New Study Links Love of Bad Movies to High Intelligence

I always knew I was smart. Now I have concrete proof, as sturdy as a football that you might toss around while wearing tuxedos in the alley behind a coffee shop.

The Independent points to a new study in the journal Poetics called “Enjoying Trash Films: Underlying Features, Viewing Stances, and Experiential Response Dimensions.” The author, Keyvan Sarkhosh, attempts to identify the reasons why people enjoy trashy films, and what makes something trashy in the first place. (“Cheapness” seems to be the most common answer to the latter question.) Regarding the viewers of such campy films, Sarkosh said this:

"To such viewers, trash films appear as an interesting and welcome deviation from the mainstream fare. We are dealing here with an audience with above-average education, which one could describe as 'cultural omnivores'. Such viewers are interested in a broad spectrum of art and media across the traditional boundaries of high and popular culture." He went on to explain that their engagement in film culture is demonstrated by their discussion of these films in blogs and forums.

Why I like interesting and welcome deviations from mainstream fare! I am interested in a broad spectrum of art! I engage in film culture on blogs and forums! And I like crappy movies! Therefore, and this can no longer be argued as anything but absolute, objective fact, I am a genius!

Kidding aside (because I am not kidding, I am a legitimate genius), my own experiences bear out Sarkosh’s findings. I love bad movies in part because they are so unfiltered and strange, and so clearly not the homogenized product of a Hollywood studio system. The more “good” movies you watch, the more interesting the truly bad ones become. That’s at least what one incredibly smart person thinks.